With four of five starters pitching effectively the past two weeks and a bullpen that is talented and deep, the Yankees proved in April that if you can pitch, there is a chance for success.
Because if the Yankee arms had been punished routinely during the first month of the season, that 16-10 ledger easily could have been reversed.
Working without Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson for the first month put pressure on the pitching staff, and the main names delivered.
“We struggled a little bit early but since then we have pitched pretty well,’’ manager Joe Girardi said before Andy Pettitte absorbed a rare beating from the Astros Monday night. “We have scored enough runs to win games, five, four and three. Our pitching has been good. All in all they have put it together as a group.’’
MVP: Robinson Cano
Make your argument for Mariano Rivera, who is 10-for-10 in save chances. Cast votes for Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells. The winner is Cano.
When the season started the question was how Cano would respond to playing for money in his walk season. Then it was how dumping agent Scott Boras and signing with a company headed by Jay-Z would affect Cano. Recently a woman associated with his charity foundation was linked to the Biogenesis slop.
Cano responded by hitting .327 with a .986 OPS and leads the club with seven homers and is tied for the team lead with 17 RBIs.
LVP: Ivan Nova
No contest here. Nova turned back David Phelps for the fifth rotation spot with pedestrian spring training and once the games counted he laid an egg. When he went on the disabled list Saturday, the right-hander — a shell of the pitcher who won 16 games two years ago — was 1-1 with a 6.14 ERA in three games and allowed 29 baserunners in 14 ²/3 innings.
Phelps has replaced Nova, who is out with a right triceps problem, and nobody is all that upset about it. When healthy, Nova should have to earn his way back via a minor league assignment.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Yankees should get Granderson back from the DL at some point in May. That’s the month Teixeira is supposed to be back, too. That’s still a possibility, but with each day Teixeira doesn’t do more than dry swings, it’s starting to look like June.
May starts tonight with the final of three games against the Astros and ends with the first of three games with the Red Sox at home.
In between the Yankees play in Denver, Kansas City, Baltimore, at Tampa Bay and at Citi Field.
IS IT SUSTAINABLE?
The Yankees deserve credit on a lot of levels for the 16-10 record. The pro scouting department believed Wells had something left and he did. Ditto Hafner. The dives into the dumpster produced Lyle Overbay and Brennan Boesch and they have contributed.
However, across the following five months the Yankees need to fill in the lineup around Cano with at least Granderson and Teixeira and hope Jeter and Rodriguez return after the All-Star break.
Smoke and mirrors can only carry you so far. Talent eventually determines winners and losers.
GAME OF THE MONTH:
YANKEES 4, RAYS 3, April 23
The Yankees trailed reigning AL Cy Young winner David Price 2-1 going into the eighth and recovered to post a 4-3 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field.
They tied the score, 2-2, in the eighth, watched Ichiro Suzuki single in two runs in the ninth and survived Evan Longoria’s leadoff homer against Mariano Rivera in the ninth.